The idea of a "next generation of a popular property" is not a new one, and they often play like attempts to squeeze more money out of a concept based around the theory that kids only are interested in watching kids, so let's make a version of this thing they already like but because it's about a kid they will like even more! Bah. I was always more interested in the adults on the shows I watched as a child as opposed to the kids (wanted stories about Baloo as opposed to Kit on TaleSpin, for example). So Batman Beyond could have been nothing more than one more of those. But in fact, it addressed and explored something that is, at least to me, an incredibly fascinating aspect of the Batman arc.
As time goes on, Bruce Wayne identifies himself more and more deeply with Batman and less and less with the public persona he's built up around his real name. One of my favorite things about him is that while for most superheroes, the temptation is to lay down the burden of having to be the hero, but for Batman, the temptation is to shed having to pretend that Bruce Wayne is who he is, and to instead lose himself in being Batman. He was so wounded by being helpless to protect his parents when they were murdered, that more and more all he can see is the ways people hurt each other and render each other helpless, and his compulsion to be Batman is so that he will never have to feel that helpless again. That is so much more important, that Batman is so much more real to him, that being Bruce Wayne increasingly means nothing to him.
But Batman is so broken that he is not good at forming relationships. He has so firmly placed himself in the protector, the burden-bearer, role that he can't trust anyone enough to let them help him. If he's not protecting them, then they're in danger, and he can't allow anyone to be in danger on his behalf. Anyone who wants too much to be there for him (Dick Grayson, for example) he eventually pushes away. So the natural consequence is that he is going to end up an embittered old man who is utterly alone because he has driven everyone else off-- exactly as he is depicted in Batman Beyond. The only thing he really has at that point is Batman.
But everyone gets older. Everyone's body eventually weakens and fails. In time, even Bruce's meticulously trained and honed perfect crime fighting body is going to fail him, and he can't be Batman without it. The first episode of Batman Beyond shows this-- he has aged and his health has deteriorated to the point where he can't physically do it anymore.
But Bruce needs Batman. He can't BE without Batman, because Batman is who he is. So he can't just let Batman go. But if he can't physically do the things that Batman must do... what is he going to do?
He's going to have to find someone else to be the body of Batman. Somebody young and strong who can perform the feats required who will still need guidance in how to be the Dark Knight. Someone who can do what he can't, but still NEEDS him to continue being the only thing that's real to him. It is so fascinating to me, and in my opinion makes for a powerful continuation of the Batman arc.
So that's why I love it. That it extends the Batman arc to its next logical consequence and explores it so well. And that's why I want so, so badly to watch through it again.
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